The State of Grace Potter
Twenty-three-year-old Grace Potter looks like the girl next door -- if the g.n.d. happens to be wearing a low-cut mini-skort and white Nancy Sinatra go-go boots -- and she sings like a house on fire. At Joe's Pub in New York's East Village last night, Potter and her band, the Vermont-based Nocturnals, were pre-celebrating the August release of her strong forthcoming album, This Is Somewhere, with a semi-industry show. The gig felt special -- but you get the impression that Grace Potter is good at making every gig feel special, a useful skill when you spend half your life on the road.
Potter ambled onstage singing credible gospel ("Nothing But the Water," from the group's 2006 sophomore release) and sporting a Gibson Flying V. She's not a great guitarist, but you can't help getting swept up in her passionate interplay with the group's real guitarist, Scott Tournet. Potter's more impressive, at least musically, behind her B3 organ, when the Nocturnals sound like Delaney & Bonnie 2.0. It's all very 1971 meets 2007.
This Is Somewhere contains much the same understated political commentary as Norah Jones's recent Not Too Late. Somewhere's first single, "Ah Mary" (available on iTunes) rages bitterly about a girl (or nation) who "puts herself just a notch above humankind," the kind of trouble who'll "bake you cookies then she'll burn your town." Potter has a big bluesy voice with a studied country tinge that's only going to improve with age, and her band has to play big to complement it. The Nocturnals finished their show with "If I Was From Paris." Potter's stage-dominating swagger recalled Rod Stewart, with the Faces, on health food.